I gots this nagging concern about our new contract. I’ve had it since the day I voted. That was months ago.
We are now days away from the expiration of our current contract – July 15, 2013.
I’ve yet to see or hear what changes, if any, are being made to the new contract that will go into effect July 16, 2013.
Has anypeep heard anything about the AGREEMENT Between Board of Trustees of Community College District No. 508, County of Cook and State of Illinois and the Cook County College Teachers Union, Local 1600 AFT, AFL-CIO, Chicago, Illinois (Faculty and Training Specialists)?
I know union reps are busy in Springfield, but it shouldn’t be an excuse to put this matter off. It’s been kicked down the road one too many times.
The Harold Lounge 
It hasn’t been uploaded yet.
We will see what is to come.
You’re right, Who’sonfirst. Eventually it has to be posted on the CCC website. I’ll keep an eye on that page an’ see if anything is uploaded come Friday.
I am still baffled that the faculty voted “yes” on a contract that we’ve never even seen. Am I missing something?
In fairness to the majority vote, me thinks the faculty voted “yes” to the bullet points and the fact that our union president said, and I paraphrase, ‘nothing else other than these bullet points I’m presenting will change in the language of the contract.’ I’ve yet to see if those were true words.
In fairness to the minority vote, local 1600 union members should have done what CPS teachers did: demand to see a contract before taking a vote. I hope we don’t have any regrets in the days to come.
I got to hand it to our CPS brothers and sisters. They may have gone on strike and extended their school year well into the summer, but they acted on their principles and had a gutsy president supporting their collective voice.
IMHO, we didn’t. Our president painted a very dismal future if we didn’t follow his suggestion. He should have been asking those he represented what we should do instead of lobbying us to agree so he didn’t have to negotiate.
Signed,
Tailwaggedthedog
CPS just recently lost a good number of schools due to closures. So, me thinks there’s a connection between their supposed win/good strategy and loss of many schools/jobs.
So, if we had “won” the contract, but lost a college or two, perhaps a few depts. consolidated across multiple disciplines and colleges, would that have been preferable?
Let us be clear, CIty Hall will do what it takes to “balance” the budget. This is not fear, just reality.
Are steps and lanes worth jobs? Which colleges are most vulnerable to closure? not necessarily the one’s you think, given recent investments and long term planning? Which departments could be combined so that classes could be offered only at a few colleges? Think about the reduction in force that would engender?
Are they worth insurance coverage that remains tenable, while others face rising costs and diminished benefits?
Please lets stop being so naive and assuming things are what they appear. All of the above were on the table…both sides will lose before letting the other win.
By the way, this is not a post in support of or against Perry — he has proven himself to be both a sycophant and an opportunist. It just seems that people are conflating a general disdain for him with a logical analysis of the best or least worst strategy for securing the best for the most.
Clearly losing steps and lanes was not desirable as was any other change, but that must always be weighed against the potential and unforeseen fall out. I don’t envy Karen Lewis having explain how her strategy was a good one to all of the parents and teachers of the closed schools. Of course, one could argue that CPS admin would have closed schools anyway, regardless of the contract resolution, but given corporate strategy that kind of negative press would not have been easy to negotiate. Now, though, with a good number of Chicago and national folks having quite dubious opinions about the CPS teachers “greed” and their effectiveness, touting school closures as a way to meet budget expectations, given the bullish contract, and still failing schools, city officials have a ready made scapegoat.
Thus, who’s the loser/winner. I don’t know, but I don’t think we can easily say that the teachers union is…and we certainly can’t say that because of their strategy they won…winning contract, losing schools and jobs…hmmm.
Hi, Really?. Couple of comments:
-Fair statements in light of what happened after the strike. My point was that our CPS colleagues acted like a union. Were the closings a way to stick it to the union or was CPS going to do this regardless of the strike? Just askin’.
-I was all in for a union-CCC dialog about the realities of balancing the budget. I’m pretty darn sure that if CCC had given us the choice between raises and closing a college OR minimal/no raise and no college closings, the latter would have prevailed. But I’m not a genie (but if I was you’d rub me the right way) nor do I have a time machine so perhaps that point is neither here nor there. Food for thought.
-I’m not being naive. Tis good of you to raise these valid question.
-Looks like the one thing you and I have in common is ‘real’ good.
🙂